Lily.
by shana2
Summary: no a/n [a 1st 4 me!]. lily's pov. this is part1; p2 is now up.
1.

I know that I'm totally not like most girls I know. These are girls who liked dressing up and tea parties when they were little, and now they're all makeup and boys, 24/7.  
  
So wy am I different? Let's see...most girls weren't sent to America for first through fifth grade. Most girls don't have as many guy friends as I have. Most girls don't talk as much as I do.  
  
When I say guy friends, that's exactly what I mean. They were guys I spent a lot of time with. Even today, you could put me in a room with any boy and I could start up a conversation. Honest, I could.  
  
Okay, more on life. My mum and dad died when I was really little. A burglar was raiding our house when they walked in. He shot them both; one bullet each. My world fell that day in 1968.  
  
Right away--well, as soon as I got home from school--I was put on an airplane and shipped to America. Imagine it: you're sitting in the clouds going somewhere you've never been before all alone. It's not the story of my life.  
  
My Aunt and Uncle picked me up from the O'Hare airport after six hours of sitting on a plane. Right away, I could tell that they were rich. Their limo was plush. They weren't even related to me straight: Aunt Mari was my mom's cousin. And Aunt Mari was only fifteen years older than me  
  
Since I was only six, I was supposed to have a 'proper education.' After only two days of getting used to the time change, I started school.  
  
I was enrolled in the California School of the Arts, and expensive private school about 1000 miles away from my relatives in Chicago. Somehow, I fit in right away. Kids loved my accent, and teachers loved my brains. It was nice.  
  
Somewhere in the middle of second grade, around January, I met 'Ian Jake and Peter,' a group of boys liked by every girl in my grade. Sure, they were cute, but we clicked right away. It must have been weird for the other students to see a girl hanging around a group of boys--an irish one with orange-red hair and pale skin, one american with chocolate brown hair, and one korean with black hair--for the majority of the time. But it didn't matter to us. It was kind of funny, though, because Ian and I were the only kids in the school with reddish hair.  
  
We were best buds. During classes we sat together in a corner of the room. The only way they passed was from reading the notes I managed to jot down and getting help from me. After school, we'd all hang out together somewhere, usually their dorm room (because mine was all girly) or the student union.  
  
After hours, while everyone was sleeping, we'd play tricks on people. Almost every other day, we had detention. We took that time to plan more tricks. Once a week, we visited the Dean's office. The secrataries really got to know us.  
  
All this happened until school let out on June 1st. Then, we'd go home, and the guys would usually come over to my Aunt Mari's house since she owned the most land to hang out on. When school started again on September 1st, it all happened over and over and over.  
  
Until the summer after fifth grade. 


	2. 

During the weekend of my birthday, June 13th (which was on a friday that year), only Peter could come over. Ian and Jake both had family vacations planned.  
  
So Peter came over. We spent the whole time on Aunt Mari's estate, mostly on the estate or in the garden house. Finally, the Tuesday that Jake and Ian were supposed to fly in, Peter kissed me. It was short and sweet, and out under the Weeping Willow sitting behind the garden house. That's when we sort of became boyfriend-girlfriend.  
  
We tried to keep it from Ian and Jake, eleven-year-olds that we were. Finally, they caught us hugging (of all things! At least it wasn't more.) under the Willow around the end of June. They weren't mad; Ian was just mad that peter had gotten to me first. It's funny how guys think, isn't it? I've always thought so.  
  
A few days later, we were all supposed to fly to Ian's in Seattle. But I had to stay back. All four of us were majorly bummed.  
  
I had to stay back because I got a letter. Weird, I know. But it was from England. I had almost forgotten my previous life there, because my accent was almost gone and I had spent the majority of my life in America.  
  
Anyway, the letter wasn't just from England, it was from a school there. A wizard school.  
  
You can tell I was surprised. So were Aunt Mari and Uncle Bobby. Suddenly I was enrolled in a school so far away from what had grown to be home.  
  
And I had to break it to the guys. Somehow.  
  
We had a wizard over for dinner the night after I got the letter. He was apparently the headmaster of the school--Hogwarts. He explained that I had been 'transferred' according to the CSA records. Sure, everyone would wonder. I was the whole time!  
  
The headmaster was going to come back the last week of August and take me to London.  
  
Now, let me tell you. I haven't been to London in more than five years.  
  
Then I would get my school supplies. The list had come with the letter, and it was full of weird stuff. Instead of leaving out the door, this time the guy just disappeared. It was really cool.  
  
It was the middle of July before I got to see the guys again. I begged Aunt Mari to let me fly over to Peter's house in New York, where they were by now.  
  
I didn't tell them anything at first. We just hung out like we usually did. Then, a couple days later, Peter found me crying in my room. After ten minutes, he knew everything. He hugged me so long I thought our arms would fall off.   
  
But he wasn't surprised. He told me that he had gotten the letter, too. His mom and dad were wizards who had moved here from England. I was totally shocked. 


	3. 

Peter wouldn't let me tell Ian or Jake, though. Maybe they hadn't gotten the letter, he said. I didn't know if I believed that, but I trusted him enough to make myself believe it.  
  
A week later, Ian and Jake flew home. I ended up staying for a few more days. Aunt Mari was glad I had found people like me. And apparently, the headmaster had called her and said that I'd be going to school with Peter's family.  
  
I spent the rest of the summer at Peter's house.  
  
A week before the last week of August, I flew to Aunt Mari's to say good bye and get all my belongings. I left there two days later.  
  
I flew to London with Peter's family right away. We spent our days there at an inn right in the magical community. After lots of persuation on both of our parts, Peter's parents let me and him room together.  
  
We went shopping the next day. I got everything from robes to a wand. Peter's parents were so nice they bought us each an owl, too.  
  
Peter and I spent the rest of the days wandering around. We had ice cream a lot; the parlor was awesome. There was also a pub there called The Leaky Cauldron. We liked to hang out there and watch all the people.  
  
September 1st came all too quickly.  
  
We drove to King's Cross, the London train station. Peter's parents told us how to get onto Platform 9 3/4. It was odd, I have to say. We had to push our own trolleys through the barrier.  
  
Waiting for us was a huge red train. Weird, I know. Peter and I snagged ourselves an empty compartment and tossed our stuff in them. Three boys showed up with these trunks right when the train was going to leave. I let them hang out with us.  
  
It turned out great, too. The guys were named James, Sirius and Remus. Totally off names. Must be an English thing, I guess.  
  
The guys were just like Ian and Jake. They played tricks on people all the time--the only difference was that they were from wizard families so it was like 'magic' tricks.   
  
After hearing boring announcements come on over the speaker on the ceiling near the door, James did this weird thing with his wand and said something. Suddenly, there was nothing coming from the speaker. I grinned at James and he winked back--yup, definitely cute, definitely a new buddy. Not that I was planning on cheating on Peter or anything like that.  
  
About half an hour later, this kid waltzes into our compartment.  
  
"Whaddya think you're doin?" I asked, standing up and crossing my arms, letting my American accent fly through. James told me later that I looked really scary with the sun coming through the smallish window at the mid-top of the wall and sort of making my dark red hair glow. I wish I had seen it; lots of people think I'm a girly-girl who's all nicey-nice. Which I am not.  
  
"I, uh, I'm just sorta here. And now I'm gone." He raced out of our compartment and slammed the door shut. The five of us burst out laughing as I sat down again.  
  
I asked James if he knew that kid. He told me he did; it was a guy named Max, most likely in our year, who was the great-great nephew of Dumbledore (the headmaster) or something.   
  
I figured that he musta been a suck up to get into our school. 


	4. 

We talked for the rest of the ride. I told Sirius that I knew nothing about magic and hadn't read any of the books. He replied by stating that he didn't plan on reading any. So I didn't freak about knowing nothing.   
  
By the time we reached the school, my accent was back full time. And, Peter and I had three new friends.  
  
Actually, we didn't even realize that the ride was over. The Max kid showed up again and asked why we were still on the train. I asked him if he had a problem with that. I didn't bother with standing up this time; I think just the image of this tough girl surrounded by guys scared him.  
  
He told me, "No, but we're here."  
  
None of us asked where here was. Seeing as Max didn't have any stuff with him, we just walked off the train in our jeans and t-shirts--in my case, sleeveless.  
  
Big mistake.  
  
Apparently, there had been an announcement over the speaker that we had to change into our robes. Whoops. We looked kinda weird surrounded by boring black robes. We just made a joke out of it and followed everyone else.  
  
This giant--I mean it!--took us first years, all forty of us, to the school in boats. The rule was four people to a boat, but we crammed in five. We had been told to keep our stuff on the train earlier too, via the speaker, so at least we were right there.  
  
The school was really just a huge castle with four big tower things. After our leader knocked on the door three times, it opened and we all ended up in this giant hall. And since we hadn't heard the thing about the robes, the lady with the bun and square glasses frowned and sent us into a little office. We waved to everyone watching us.  
  
A few minutes later, she came back in to the office. She introduced us as Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration teacher. I guessed that we wouldn't mess around in her class. She also had our robes, which she had somehow gotten, and gave them to us. After watching us throw them over ourselves and buckle them hastily, she sent us back out to the main hall.  
  
I sure hoped I didn't fail Transfiguration as I walked with the guys.  
  
We followed the other kids as they walked behind the Bun Lady, making jokes all the way. 


	5. 

All the new students were led to an even bigger room, called--what do you know--the Great Hall. The ceiling was an exact replica of what it looked like outside. I hoped it wouldn't rain during a thunderstorm.  
  
All the old students were sitting at one of four giant tables.  
  
Us new kids had to line up in a single line. I shoved between Peter and James. The lady with the bun explained that when we heard our name, we had to go up to a stool and wear a hat. The hat would shout something out, and that was the dorm we got put in.  
  
No biggie.  
  
Sirius Black was the first of us five to get called. I didn't pay attention after that; I just waited for Lily Evans to get called and get it over with. I did hear Maxamillian Dunkerlore get put into Gryffindor. He was right before me.  
  
When I got called, I walked over to the stool and sat down, making a big show of making sure the hat didn't mess up my hair when I put it on--something I didn't care about anyway.  
  
The hat talked to me. It asked me if I had made any friends. What kind of question is that? I said yeah and hurried through the rest of them; stuff like 'don't cheat' that could be taken as a double meaning. Finally, it put me in Gryffindor.   
  
As I walked toward the table that was cheering really loud, I noticed that Sirius had saved me a spot. Good, I thought, we're in the same house. I sat down across from him and emptied the three chairs next to us, hoping the other three would make us. Of course, I emptied the spots nicely.  
  
Remus was a while later, then James. Both of them managed getting into Gryffindor. Of course, James answered all the questions lesurely and out loud, so the hat finally started talking out loud instead of into his ear. It said some pretty funny stuff and was on the verge of starting to cuss, so it put him in Gryffindor muttering something about fate and friends. Whatever.  
  
A few people later, Peter got called, his last name being Raciti. There were only eight people left in the line by now. He must have been nervous; he didn't do anything outrageously funny. The hat shouted his out after a long time. By that time, he was blushing like mad, which was funny. But I didn't know if he could blush on purpose or anything.  
  
He sat right next to me. I hugged him when he sat down. People started to stare. I glared. End of story.  
  
In a way, it was odd. I knew all five of the first year Gryffindor first years. Real weird.  
  
And four of the five (not counting Max, of course) were my friends.  
  
Pretty cool if you look at it that way. 


	6. 

After a speech from Dumbledore, food appeared on these giant platters on the table. We piled our plates high--except me, because I had enough brains to figure that the food would last.  
  
About half an hour later, all the people at our table stood up. Shrugging, we stood up and followed them. We walked through the school, up staircases and (for some odd reason) down. Finally we stopped in front of a painting of a fat lady--her name: the Fat Lady.   
  
"Is this McGonagall's mom? All hail McGonagall's mom!" Sirius said. Everyone laughed. The lady looked shocked.  
  
"No," replied a tall girl with pretty golden hair, "this is the entrance to our dorm."  
  
"Oh, I see." He tried to walk through the painting, unsuccessfully. The lady looked bruised.  
  
"Inkblotter."  
  
"Huh?" Clueless.  
  
The painting slid forward, and I thought I heard the Fat Lady sigh as we all climbed through.  
  
We entered a huge room with blue-green carpet and huge cranberry colored couches and armchairs. Before I could sink into one, the tall girl explained that this was our common room. She told us to remember that 'Inkblotter' was the password to get in. We could do homework, play games, or just hang out here. I went for hang out.  
  
"Sort of like the student union," Peter whispered from next to me. I nearly jumped; I had forgotten that he was standing next to me. I gave his hand a squeeze.  
  
A tall boy with dark brown hair continued. He told us that the staircase to the left went to the boys' dorm and the one on the right went to the girls'. The doors went in order of year, and each year the room shifted up one spot by itself at the beginning of the next year. He reminded us that there weren't any signs on any of the doors.  
  
Then there was silence. I looked around at the other people; lots of them who I was probably taller than. Lots of girls who were probably girly-girls. I rolled my eyes and closed them as I sighed. 


	7. 

Well, in that case... It was fine with me.   
  
And it's not like I was scared or anything.  
  
I walked right past everyone else and started up the stairs, opening the first door I passed. I had figured that since it was the first one, it was the one for first years. Me and my brain; where would I have been without it?   
  
"Night!" I called loudly, slamming the door behind me.  
  
The first thing I did was get the robe off me. It took a bit of work; I wasn't used to the buckles and I was walking at the same time. I threw it at the foot of the bed farthest from the giant window seat (light annoys me sometimes) and closest to the door (easy getaways).  
  
I pulled the side curtains on the bed so I would be hidden and the other girls would realize that I had taken this bed. Then, I just plopped on to the bed, not getting into the sheets or anything.  
  
The last thing I thought of before falling sleep was that I would have to meet the other girls the next day.  
  
Tomorrow.  
  
It seemed so far away. 


	8. 

I finally woke up. A long time later, might I add.  
  
The first thing I noticed when I pushed back the curtains was lots of light. Light equals morning, right? I thought. Or so it seemed.  
  
I stepped off of my bed and walked toward a door I hadn't noticed the night before. It turned out to be the bathroom, complete with private showers and bathtubs. I took off my clothes from yesterday, tossed them on a bench, and stepped into a shower.   
One of the first things I noticed was that the water already knew that I had a really hot taste: I take super hot showers. And, all the shampoos I used in America, shampoos that were only available through certain people Aunt Mari knew, were right there. All right! I had thought, lathering up some Revitalizing Hair Cleanser.  
  
About twenty-five minutes later, the water shut off by itself--which was weird because that's how long my usual showers were. I reached past the shower curtain (figuring that so much magic had happened already, there might as well be my shell beach towel there from my bags) and groped an empty wall.  
  
Yipee for me.  
  
Wet and naked, I carefully stepped out of the shower. Grabbing my clothes, I ran to the door of the bathroom. Checking that no one was in the dorm, I raced in there and dragged my smallest suitcase into the bathroom with me. Once in, I pulled on a tank top and some shorts--after underwear, of course. Then, I picked up the bag again and went back into the dorm room.  
  
I noticed that at the foot of all the beds there was this giant trunk thing. Even by mine, and I hadn't even brought one! I pushed away my suitcases, opened it, and--Voila!--all my books and junk were in there.  
  
Then I realized that my suitcases had seemed awfully light when I pushed them away. Sure enough, they were empty. At first, I thought Peter or Ian--scratch Ian and put in James--had taken all of my clothes to tick me off. Well, it wasn't that simple.  
  
And I noticed another thing. Was I noticing things or what? Well, what I saw was this big movable closet thing--wardrobes I think they're called. Since my other stuff was already in the trunk, I figured that my clothes could be in the wardrobe.   
  
I opened the first wardrobe; I found dresses and pretty shirts and magazine pictures of unmistakably English movie stars. Not mine. The next one had a soccer ball--er, football--and shorts and sneakers. One that was pretty nice, but wasn't mine. Finally, I realized that the wardrobes could be arranged by the order of beds, left to right. And mine was on the right.   
  
Which they were. Am I smart or what?  
  
I reminded myself to remember that the cool girl would be in the second bed from the window, and opened the wardrobe all the way on the right. Magic! My clothes. And it really could be magic... I shut the door.  
  
Bored with looking around the boring room, I left it and slammed the door behind me.  
  
Ahhh, loud noise. 


	9. 

After the extremely short trip down the stairs (and I had slid down the railing) I reached an empty common room.  
  
Empty. Great.  
  
Except for one person: none other than the Bun Lady, aka McGonagall.  
  
"Nice of you to wake up, Miss Evans," she said, without looking up from her book. She must have some weird magic mirror working for her.  
  
"It's Lily. And you're welcome." I sat on an armchair on the other side of the room from her.  
  
"You've missed your first lesson."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Transfiguration. Potions, your second lesson with Professor Behrens, is going on right now. Actually, it has been just a few minutes."  
  
"No way, Jose." I had skipped my first two classes on the first day? Just great. Who made up the rule that you had classes the second day you were here? I'd like to get my hands on them.  
  
"You are not to call me hoe-zay!" She finally looked up at me, anger in her eyes. I was used to the look and ignored it.  
  
"It's an expression. Well, gotta run. What time is lunch?" I headed towards the portrait hole.  
  
"Not in those clothes, you're not."  
  
"What're you talking about? They're brand new!"  
  
"That's alright, but you have to wear your robes. I know you own some."  
  
"What? That's not fair." I turned back around and headed up the stairs again, muttering, "Stupid school, makes me wear a burning robe."  
  
Finally, after coming back down wearing the robe, Bun Lady made me go back and grab the book bag I had bought and fill it with my books and wand and parchment and quills (which she didn't know had ball point pens hidden in the stick part).  
  
By the time I was ready to her approval, lunch was about to start. Maybe I could blame skipping class on her...  
  
I couldn't. So I just threw the bag on the floor of the common room and went to the Great Hall for lunch. 


	10. 

As I walked down to the Great Hall (I had to stop and ask some portraits for directions) a loud gong rang. End of class bell, I figured because people started filtering into the hallway.  
  
Everyone I passed didn't look familiar from last night. Even so I just followed them to the Great Hall, which went pretty slow because they were all wearing book bags and they were heavy.  
  
Finally, I got to the Great Hall. I headed towards the table I had sat at the night before and noticed James. Grinning his head off like some sort of cheshire cat.  
  
I sat next to him and told him to lose the face. He asked me where I had been that morning and if I had cut them.  
  
"Why? Do you have classes with me?"  
  
"Yeah. All of them."  
  
"Yay!" I said sarcastically. "I was sleeping."  
  
"No kidding."  
  
"Seriously. When I woke up, I found McGonagall waiting for me in the common room. By then Potions had just started. She kept me there till like ten minutes ago."  
  
He laughed and suddenly stood up. "Hey Pete, check your girlfriend!" He sat back down, still laughing.  
  
"What about her?" Peter asked, sitting on my other side.  
  
"Guess where she was during class."  
  
"Lily? Taking a shower."  
  
Sirius and Remus showed up right then and they whistled along with James. I rolled my eyes and said, "I was sleeping, idiots."  
  
"Sleeping Idiots, I like it. What kind of music do they play?" Sirius asked. He was so clueless.  
  
"Get with the program, dawg."  
  
"Dog?"  
  
"Never mind. Look, food!" If I had learned anything last night, it was that Sirius loved food. And almost immediately his plate was overflowing. 


	11. 

After lunch, the five of us apparently had a free half hour. They had gotten their schedules at breakfast, when--surprise, surprise--I had been snoozing.  
  
As we walked through the school aimlessly, Max showed up. I sent him off telling him that I heard his book bag had been found in the Potions room (dungeon, I found out later).  
  
Thinking we were sick of being indoors, James led us outside. We walked to the giant lake right on the school property and sat on the closest rocks. I noticed a hut in the distance, and Remus told me that the giant guy, Hagrid, lived there. He was in charge of the animals and school keys, I found out. Oh.  
  
Sirius saw a tree in the distance. It looked like it was swatting things, birds most likely. Remus said that he heard it was alive. I wondered where he had heard that, of all things.  
  
I moved back onto the grassy area and lay back. The guys did the same. For a long while, we just stared at the sky.  
  
Peter's watch beeped a long while later. "Class starts in a couple minutes. I set it to beep before every class."  
  
"What do we have now?" I asked as I stood up.  
  
"Herbology." We started walking   
  
"Oh. You guys better know where you're going."  
  
"We don't," James told me. "Last time we ended up asking some coats of armor and a ghost--Nearly Headless Nick, resident of Gryffindor house."  
  
"A ghost? Cool! I asked the people in the pictures to find the Great Hall."  
  
"Smart move. Just make sure you don't ask a knight on a fat horse. Stupid git my father told me about. He's mental."  
  
"Git?" I repeated.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Sirius pulled the door open for us as we walked back into the school. 


	12. 

We were the last people in Herbology, because I had to go back to the common room to get my books. The gong/bell hadn't rung yet. Luckily.  
  
As soon as I stepped into the room, people swarmed around me and asked me about my 'cutting class.' Whatever.  
  
I shoved them off and sat down in the back row with none other than James on one side and Peter on the other. The teacher--Professor Seedling--took roll call, and I couldn't believe it when he skipped me. I stood up after 'Patrick Fahrquist' and said, "Excuse me?"  
  
He looked up from the list with almost utter disbelief. He must have heard about me missing class. Well, he heard wrong.  
  
I went right up to him, took the paper from him (careful to leave a papercut) and exclaimed, "I am on here! And here I am thinking I wasn't enrolled in this class. Guess I didn't bring my stuff for nothing." I strutted back to my spot, smiling.  
  
The rest of the class was just taking notes.  
  
The next class, Charms, was the same way. My named skipped, a big deal made about it courtesy of your's truly, and some notes were taken.  
  
Oh yeah, we also changed matches into needles. The teacher said something about nobody being able to do it in Transfiguration and that McGonagall wanted to try it out in Charms class. It took a while for me to dig my wand out of the bottom of my bag.  
  
I had never done magic before in my life, and I was the first done. James looked a little ticked; he probably expected that being a wizard born that he would be the first done. Sorry, Charlie. You are not the best kid in the school, I wanted to say. But instead I just kissed his cheek and enjoyed the touched-by-anger expression on his face. Peter, Remus, Sirius and I laughed for a long time.  
  
Dinner was way better than the beginning of my day. Excluding my shower. 


	13. 

We walked back to the Gryffindor common room, taking the long way around the other end of the school and past the statue of Gregory the Smarmy.  
  
Remus disappeared after Charms saying something about meds. Well, I guess if you're sick you still have to take pills the normal--er, Muggle way. I thought he was like diabetic or something; he stayed gone for three days. Or maybe it had been an asthma attack. Whatever.  
  
Sirius clambored up to the guys' dorm right away telling us that his mind was frying up from all the learning. I rolled my eyes and asked if he was sure he had a mind. I heard a door slam in reply. We figured that he would fall asleep in a few seconds--but not before we sent James up to put some thing on him; a curse I think. Hey, I was new to the wizard world.  
  
So, James, Peter, and I hung out on one of the couches. James finally convinced me to play a game of chess with him. And was I surprised when I found out that the pieces talked! I borrowed Remus's pieces (James brought them down), and they apparently thought I was cute. I flirted with James's bishops, too. A lot of fun, I'd say. Especially when I lost to James and Peter wanted to play him, but Remus's pieces kept telling him that I just needed practice. Finally, we convinced James's peices to let Peter play me with them.   
  
And just between us, I think they liked Peter a lot better than James--he doesn't get ticked as easily as James does.  
  
I beat Peter. It was so funny, though, because all my pieces that had been knocked off got up and danced around with James's pieces.  
  
It was about then that Max showed up in the common room to do his Potions homework. Peter and James brushed him off saying that they finished in class. I groaned and told them I hadn't even been in class. James replied, saying that Professor Behrens would let me off, Head of Slytherin as he was, if I acted all girlish saying something about being sick.   
  
"It's really disgusting," Peter added, "how he treats all the girls almost as good as he treats all the Slytherin."  
  
I told him that in that case, I'll just tell him I cut class. Then I remembered that McGonagall would tell him that I had been sleeping.  
  
James asked me if I had really been sleeping.  
  
I asked him if he liked any of the girls in my dorm, telling him I didn't know any them.  
  
He blushed and said that dinner would start soon. I linked arms with him and Peter and told James that he would have to introduce me to the other girls.  
  
We left the common room and beat the rest of the crowd to the Great Hall, courtesy of some secret shortcuts James's father had told him about. 


	14. 

Dinner was good. Turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberries. I joked with Peter that it was an early Thanksgiving. He reminded me that Thanksgiving was an American holiday. Oh yeah.  
  
Sirius showed up right when the food appeared on the golden platters. I should have known.  
  
In the middle of the meal, James remembered my thing about the other first year girls.  
  
We stood up (his arm around my shoulders) and went over to where the girls were. I recognized the cool girl right away: she looked way out of place with her brown hair in just a ponytail. She looked up at me and James with a confused look on her face. Hoping she knew about me and Peter, I mouthed 'just play along.'  
  
I wondered if she had second thoughts as she said, "James!" and stood up.  
  
"K8E!" (cool name, I thought then. I didn't learn how to spell it until later.) "How ya holdin up, K? Met my girl, Lil?" He tightened his grip on me and I smiled.  
  
I reminded myself to slap James when we got back to the common room.  
  
"Not yet. Yer the one who cut this morn, right?"  
  
"That's me. Class wuz too borin for me tuh come." I hoped she understood what I said, it was in an all-American accent.  
  
"Hmm. Too true, girl. Well, these are the preps." The other girls looked up and smiled at me. They thought 'preps' was a compliment? What world were they from? "Alani, Tanya, Becki." They gave me a small wave as their name was mentioned.  
  
"Your boyfriend is really cute, Lily." I thought Becki said that, and I wasn't sure who she was talking about.  
  
I noticed their hair was done like really preppy, too. All up and stuff with tons of hair spray and mousse or whatever they use.  
  
I asked K8E if she wanted to sit with me and James and Peter.  
  
"Your boyfriend." The preps had started to talk about cute guys again. I heard Peter and James mentioned and watched James blush profusely.  
  
"Yeah, not this freak here, cute as he tries to be." I patted his cheek and rolled my eyes.  
  
We walked over to where we had been before. K8E sat in the empty space next to Sirius and across from me. James finally let go of me when I sat down. "Take some acting lessons, honey," I told him as I moved closer to Peter and asked K8E how she decided how to spell her name.   
  
"I'm a tomboy, I admit it!" We all laughed. "I like to annoy my teachers," she explained.  
  
A while later, K8E and I stopped mid-conversation and looked up. The silence told us that Dumbledore was going to give a speech. 


	15. 

"I hope everyone had a good first day of class!"  
  
He looked straight at me.  
  
"Seeing as today was the first day, detentions will not be given for missing one class. Those students who missed more than one will recieve a detention."  
  
Me and some third year guys groaned about missing only two classes. Sirius told me that I should be proud; something about having the first detention of the whole first year. I ignored him.  
  
"Any homework given today must be completed by tomorrow, no other comments there.  
  
"Now, I would like to congratulate The First of the Firsts." People started clapping.  
  
"Okay, starting with the first year... Lily Evans for being the first to change a match into--" (She's got the first detention too! Sirius exclaimed to the clapping crowd. They clapped louder.) "--a needle, James Potter for being the first to transfigure a quill into a Muggle pen, and Melissa Elverada for being the first to complete a successful Color-Changing potion. Please stand."  
  
More clapping. I noticed that Melissa was a Hufflepuff who looked quite smug and might I add preppy. James and I did a Broadway bow, where we held hands and brought them up while we bowed. Then we sat.  
  
He went all the way through the seventh year, three students each year. I noticed that a lot of Gryffindors were called. Out of the rest of the names, I recognized only one person: a third year named Kyle Ratazak. "That's right," Peter whispered to me, "It's Ian's older brother." I realized that he had a detention, too.  
  
Weird. I wondered if Ian wondered what his brother did in school.  
  
"Now, I would like the heads of the Houses to step up here." McGongall, Seedling, and two others stood next to him. Sirius pointed out Behrens and Togepi, the female Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. "It is time to sing the school song! Choose your favorite tune and sing along!"   
  
He twitched his wand and this ribbon thing flew out of it. It formed words and we sang. Kyle and some other Gryffindor fourth years quickly silenced the crowd with their rock version of the song, complete with air guitar and drums--which, surprisingly, actually made noise. It was hilarious. Even McGongall had to laugh.  
  
The speech and dinner were soon over. I yelled to grab a word with Kyle as we left the Great Hall. 


	16. 

"Kyle! KYLE! Turn around you freak!" He finally recognized the voice and turned around.  
  
"Lily?" I wasn't surprised that he was unsure; he only knew me from the time I had spent over at the Ratazaks during summer vacation.  
  
"Yeah!"   
  
" 'Kay, hang on." He stopped at the foot of the stairs and waited for me. I went up to him with James and Peter. (Sirius had been caught up with the crowd and had been pushed to the Gryffindor common room before he realized we were gone.)  
  
"Kyle, what's up!" We hugged and I introduced them. "This is James, and you remember Peter."  
  
"How are ya, Petey?" He high-fived Peter. The crowd was gone, and we were now the only people in the hall. "You're a Potter, right James? I was over at your house twice, over Christmas break. Remember?"  
  
James's face lit up. "Two years ago and last year, because Dumbledore was afraid you'd cause too much trouble here. My dad offered to let you stay over at my house."  
  
"Yup. You've been cool since then?"  
  
"Check me out, man."  
  
Guys. I rolled my eyes. "So, anyway, Kyle, I wanted to ask you something. Privately." James and Peter waved good bye.  
  
"Okay. So, how's life for you, Lil?"  
  
"It's great here, Kyle. But I just want to know, did Ian like--I dunno--react when he found out that I was at Peter's house like most of the summer? And when I was transferred?"  
  
"React? Oh, he reacted all right. He really liked you, Lil." My heart fell somewhere in my intestines. "He went into a sort of depression for the rest of the summer until I left for Diagon Alley. I really felt sorry to leave him; I know what it feels like to lose a girl."  
  
I sat on the bottom step and buried my face in my hands. I started crying and heard Kyle sit next to me and put his arm around me. We just sat there for a while, me sobbing and thinking about all the times I was with the guys back in America. Finally, I ran out of tears.  
  
Kyle put his hand on my chin and lifted my head up. I looked into his light blue eyes, the same color as Ian. "Don't cry, Lily. Just because Ian is stuck at CSA doesn't mean you can't have fun here. You've made friends, right? Like James. And you're with Peter, right? So you can have fun here."  
  
"But it just feels wrong, you know? Like being here with just Peter and going out with him feels like I'm being a traitor to Ian."  
  
"It's okay to be with guys, Lily. You chose to be with Peter, and not Ian or Jake. Or me."  
  
And suddenly, he pulled me into such a kiss I couldn't believe it. Right there, on the bottom step of the big staircase. It sort of moved me, and for a few seconds I wondered why I wasn't with Kyle. I pushed it out of my mind, but I wanted the kiss. I was hungry for a kiss like this; a kiss from someone experienced with girls and kissing. I was totally in it. 


	17. 

"So, are you guys done talking or wha--"  
  
We broke away and looked up. Right at Peter. And James standing next to him.  
  
I wanted to say something, but I couldn't. "This isn't what it looks like, Peter." Lame, lame, lame.  
  
"It isn't? Oh. Okay, then. Well, I guess you could say it's over. See ya, Lily." He turned and went back up the stairs. James came down to us. I closed my eyes. The tears came back.  
  
"Kyle..." I started. I couldn't say I wasn't happy breaking up with Peter. All that I could think of was the kiss.  
  
"It's okay, Lily. Relax." This was James talking.  
  
"No, James. It's not okay. And you want to know the truth? I--I think I'd rather not be Peter." I stopped crying and looked up at James and Kyle.  
  
"I thought you liked him," they chorused, confused.  
  
"I do--I did. But, I don't know." I really didn't. How exactly was I supposed to explain this to a bunch of guys? "You know how we tricked the girls at dinner? Me and you? That felt good." I was digging really deep into my soul. "And right now, when me and Kyle kissed, that felt good, too. Being with other guys? That feels good." Okay, I was thinking, where did this stuff come from? I never even thought about this before!  
  
"It's okay to change your mind, Lily." James again. Where did he come in?  
  
"I know. So it's completely over with Peter. Over. Done. Finished."  
  
"You're single now."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"So it's okay if he asks you out."  
  
"Who, Peter?"  
  
"No, him." He looked at Kyle.  
  
"I guess so. Seeing as I already poured my heart out to him a few minutes ago."  
  
"How did you guys know each other?"  
  
Should I tell him truth? "I went to school with his younger brother. Ian. He, er, liked me. I spent parts of summers at his house."  
  
"Ah. So, Kyle?" What was James, Hogwarts' own cupid?  
  
"You want to?" Kyle. Oddly enough, I wasn't thick enough not to know what he was asking.  
  
"Yeah. That'd be nice. But--but you're sure going out with a first year won't ruin your rep or anything?" It was a joke.  
  
He laughed. "It'll be great, Lily."  
  
I took his hand and looked over at James. He smiled at me and took my other hand. We walked upstairs to the common room. 


	18. 

We got to the common room. I saw K8E and the other girls sitting with Sirius and Peter. Fake whispering to Kyle as he left us, I motioned for her to come over to me and James. James asked if he could leave the girl-talk session. I told him to.  
  
I dragged K8E up to our dorm and to her bed--it was farther from the door. Pulling the two curtains that didn't face the window, I turned towards her with pure glee on my face.  
  
"Guess who I am going out with!"  
  
"Peter. No surprise there, Lily." I thought it was just me, but she talked kind of fast.  
  
"Nope. We broke up--Actually, he dumped me."  
  
"Then why are you happy? He's pretty cool, you know."  
  
"Yeah, yeah. But someone else asked me out."  
  
"James?" The true girly-girl shone through. "AH! You two looked sooo cute together!"  
  
"How 'bout not. Okay, okay. You know the kid who was singing the rock Hogwarts song? Not the drummer or the guitar kid, but the one who was singing. Kyle Ratazak."  
  
"Kyle Ratazak, the third year? I've heard of him. The preps think he's super cute, and I guess I agree. They said he was single, too."  
  
"Not anymore."  
  
"HE'S your boyfriend!"  
  
"Yes!" We screamed and started giggling.  
  
"That's great! And you know who asked me out?"  
  
"Sirius?"  
  
"No, Peter! Isn't it great? Now we can double-date."  
  
I stopped giggling. "You're going out with Peter."  
  
She did too. "Yeah."  
  
"The same Peter who just dumped me."  
  
"Well, I didn't know you two were like a couple till Sirius told me."  
  
"When was that?"  
  
"After Peter came back and asked me out and went upstairs."  
  
"So you found out after."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Oh." We lay down and started giggling again. 


	19. 

The preps walked into the room. Alani heard me and K8E giggling and came over to us. She sat next to me as me and K8E sat up.  
  
"Hey Alani," I said, as sweetly as possible. If there was such a phrase when talking about me.  
  
"Hi Lily. I heard about you and Peter. I'm really sorry."  
  
"It's all good. Besides, K8E's going out with him now."  
  
"Really?" K8E nodded. "Oh. Well. I was wondering, since you're around James so much, maybe you could talk about me."  
  
"Huh?" I knew perfectly well what she wanted from me.  
  
"Get him to ask me out, maybe?"  
  
"I guess so."  
  
"And I can spread a good impression about you, to--say, Kyle Ratazak."  
  
"Oh. In that case, no."  
  
"What? You don't like Kyle? Then--"  
  
"Sorry, babe," K8E interrupted. "Kyle's taken."  
  
"Kyle Ratazak? By who, you?"  
  
"No, her." She pointed at me and I blushed.  
  
"Omigosh! Becki, Tanya, Lily's going out with Kyle Ratazak!"  
  
They ran over. "No way!"  
  
"Yes way. I am. He asked me out after dinner."  
  
"After dinner? Like walking out?"  
  
"No, I was talking to him about something. And then we kissed--"  
  
"You kissed Kyle Ratazak?"  
  
"Yeah. So?"  
  
"That's like, so cool!"  
  
"Whatever." Preps make a big deal out of nothing. 


	20. 

The next couple of days had been boring. Didn't see Kyle except for meals and the common room; hey, I was a first year and he was a fourth year. And for some odd reason, Dumbledore had scheduled all the detentions assigned on Monday for Friday night. Which had been fine by me; I could still sleep in on Saturday.   
  
But no. Max had to so politely inform me that if you didn't show up for breakfast on Saturdays, you got no food. James covered that one: he knew how to get into the kitchens. So there, Max.  
  
Peter was still mad at me, don't ask me why, but since he spent so much time with K8E and I spent so much time with K8E, we ended up making up. As friends.  
  
Each Potions class, Sirius had resolved to do something funny. What goes on in that head of his, I do not want to know. So, since we had Potions every day, Behrens was just looking for trouble when he paired Sirius and James up for the Blister Potion on Thursday. I lucked out and got to be with Remus, who was back by Thursday.  
  
Friday classes were boring. Except for Charms, when Sirius blew up his table trying to do a Gilrahdio Charm, which was supposed to turn everything green purple. K8E and I got 10 points from Gryffindor  
  
Friday night, detentions were scheduled. Kyle's buddies, Josh and Alex, were assigned to cleaning duties with the school janitor Snide. Kyle and I were assigned to Oracline collecting in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid, the giant dude.  
  
That was my first detention. It was followed by many more. But that one was one of the best. 


End file.
